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At one time many thought that fiber lasers could be used only for thin materials. The CO2, with its larger wavelength, created enough kerf during the cutting of thick materials that enough space was allowed for material removal; the fiber laser couldn’t produce the same kerf or results with thicker materials. But that has been addressed in recent years with collimating technology that can produce a wider fiber laser-generated beam that creates materials separation and room for material removal in thick materials. And since the beam width is switchable, the machine can use the narrower beam to process thin materials, which allows for faster processing of different-sized materials on the same fiber laser cutting machine.
Some things are difficult to see until you have a closer look at the fiber laser operating. Fiber lasers have a larger power density than CO2 laser beams because their beam diameter is typically one-third that of CO2 beams. This allows fiber to cut more quickly and also allows it pierce better. This allows the fiber to cut intricate shapes with sharp edges and leaves a smaller beam size. Imagine that a fiber can cut the company logo from a tube with spacing of 0.035 in between its letters; a CO2 laser is incapable of doing this.